


Happenstance

by nakadoo



Category: Homestuck
Genre: Multi, fluff fluff fluff
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-03-05
Updated: 2013-12-31
Packaged: 2017-12-04 09:31:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 18,218
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/709230
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nakadoo/pseuds/nakadoo
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sollux had pretty much decided that the life of a hermit was his kind of lifestyle but his friends keep getting in his way. Though he really wasn't expecting this new guy to just insidiously fit himself into his life. Not that he minded much.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

He never got up before noon, it was something that most of his friends knew so none of them ever bothered to try and contact him before then (except Karkat, of course, who always had one thing or another to tell him. He’s learned to tune him out though, so he didn’t mind anymore). It was no surprise to him that by the time he got out of bed, he was getting dinner invitations from none other than Aradia who was currently seeing a dude named Equius, which Sollux could care less about (but again, he learned how to tune her out too so it was okay).

She was snapping her fingers in front of his face now, drawing his attention from his thoughts back to her and her soon to be boyfriend. “You’re not even paying attention to me, Sollux!” she whined, and went back to prodding her French fry in her ketchup with a pout.

“Of course I’m listening, what would make you think otherwise?” he asked, stealing some of her food, only just to annoy her. He wasn’t really all that hungry but he smiled when she swatted his hands away. “I listen to you all the time, AA, we do this every day.”

“Then you should know by now what I’m about to say,” she said with a challenging look.

He nodded in reply. “Then what was I talking about?” he mimicked her voice (attempted to, at least) and pretended to flip his imaginary hair. “AA, all you ever gush on about is that muscle monster of a boy toy you have tied around your pinky. I don’t think I really want to know what he smells like, what he does, how his hair is so perfect the way is and etc. I don’t want you brainwashing me into thinking he is like the perfect example of the alpha male in this shitstorm world, okay” he said with a roll of his eyes. “I started to not listen when you told me that he watches ‘My little pony’ with you. Who even likes that show?”

She smacked the side of his arm playfully, shoving him. “You make me sound so creepy, you jerk” she replied with a sigh. “Besides, he is dreamy. So dreamy! He isn’t exactly what you’d call alpha male, but that is a funny description and I think I’ll tell him that later, but he’s the only guy I’ve actually been interested in a long time.”

“I know, AA, I know---Later?” He said, slipping his glasses halfway down his nose to peek over them. “What do you mean later?”

“That’s what I was trying to say!!” She wailed, reaching into her pocket to fish out her keys. She grabbed his hand and gave him the keys to her apartment. She leaned over the table and gestured with her index finger for Sollux to come closer. He complied, tilting his head so that his ear was close to her mouth. “I’ve been trying to tell you,” she said in a mischievous whisper and her cheeks tinting slightly, “that I’m wearing my sexy underwear.” She pulled back and winked.

“Oh my god, that was probably—Shit AA, for real?”

She nodded and giggled. “That’s why I want you to go to my apartment and feed Mystery.”

“Oh, you mean your puppy?” he said, turning the keys in his hand. “Yeah, sure. I can feed your puppy for you, no problem. Just kibble right? Or is there something more I need to know?”

“Yeah! Just kibble!! And maybe give her some milk! She really likes milk.” Aradia had begun to shove her things into her purse. She pulled her lip balm and did a retouch, smacking her lips together to spread it. She cleared her throat and looked at Sollux a little guiltily.

It was the first time he’s ever seen Aradia so girly, so it took him a few moments to register the look he was getting. He raised his eyebrows in curiosity. “What? Is there more to this than meets the eye?”

“Well, sort of,” she admitted. “Well, Mystery gets kind of lonely when I’m not there, you know? And I heard that there was a storm tonight and she’s terribly afraid of thunder…” she trailed off, hoping he would catch her drift.

He frowned. “You want me to stay in your apartment tonight, is that it?”

She nodded. “Well, if you have stuff to do at your apartment, maybe you could take her with you?? I’ll pick her up tomorrow!! Really!! Please, just one night Sollux!” she whined, grabbing his hand in hers and squeezing, her face pleading. “Sollux, this is a really big night! I might actually get laid!”

He scoffed but finally nodded. “Fine, fine, I give, I give,” he said relenting. “I’ll take care of Mystery tonight but I swear if you are still a virgin by the time you come to pick her up, I am going to punch you and your boyfriend and then you will treat me to a double scoop of Hagen Daze ice cream, got it?”

She nodded and finally got out of her seat, walking over to his side of the booth to kiss his cheek. “Thanks Sollux, you’re the best.”

“I know I am,” he said jokingly, giving her a one armed hug. “Show him what you’ve got, tiger.”

She roared in what he assumed was supposed to be sexy as she left and he sighed, tossing the keys into the air and catching them. He finished off his drink before he left, leaving a tip on the table and a muttered goodbye to the waiter who served them.  
Of course the rain decided to fall when he was only half way home, Mystery tucked under his jacket in hopes of keeping her dry and warm. He may be an asshole but he had a soft spot for animals.

So there he was, an hour or so later, sitting under the shade of a bus stop with a puppy carefully cradled in his arm with no money to get him home. He didn't like public transportation anyway, too many people. He groaned, hoping that the rain would let up a little when his phone vibrated in his pocket. Mystery shivered and he pulled her closer as he dug out his phone to read the message.

he is in the store now buying something!!!! maybe its condoms or something!! its happening sollux its happening im getting myself an official boyfriend!!!

arent you two already iin a relatiion2hiip?

yeah but this is the next level!!!!

ii 2ee your poiint.

how are my precious babies by the way

we are fiine iif you can call fiine beiing trapped iin the raiin fiine.

oh no!!!

iit2 no biig deal AA, iim almo2t home. Go have fun wiith the next level. Dont tell me what happen2. the la2t thiing ii need to know ii2 how my be2t friiend got banged.

if you say so! Be safe and wish me luck!!

He shoved his phone back. The rain didn’t look like it was going to stop anytime soon.

He was going to run. He was going to run and he is going to get wet and so is Mystery but that’s fine, there’s hot water at home. Sweet, sweet hot water. He can take a nice long hot bath, and hey, maybe he could give Mystery a bath too. The poor puppy looks like she could use one right now. Yes, that is it. After that he is going to get his laptop and continue that code he was working on and he and Mystery are going to have the most fun together.

He groaned at his own idiotic thoughts and stood up, running out of the pathetic bus stop.

Only to bump into someone exactly two seconds later.

Thankfully, he managed to protect the puppy but now the two of them were more wet than they already were. He glared at the man he had bumped into, which proved to be difficult what with the rain pounding down and he didn’t want unknown chemicals getting into his already sensitive eyes.

But there was no rain in his eyes. The guy he bumped into had an umbrella held over his head.

“Yo motherfucker,” he greeted with a lazy smile. “What are you all and up to doing at this time of the night?” he asked, offering a hand to Sollux who took it and relished the warmth. He almost didn’t want to let go but that would be weird so he retracted his hand and muttered a small thanks.

“On my way home. Got caught in the rain” he replied briefly.

He nodded languidly. “Oh, I’m all up on my way home too, brother. We can go home together, yeah? You, me and that growling little thing in your arms,” he said, putting an arm around Sollux’ shoulder and pulling him close and leading him home, apparently. “I’ve got me some miracles cooking in there, brother, and you look like you could use some of that.”

“I’m assuming by miracles you’re pertaining to cake or something,” he replied, noticing the grocery bag that the man was holding contained things you need to bake and shit. “Or drugs. Are you trying to sell me drugs?” he asked slightly wary.

“Miracles, brother. That’s all you need to know. It’ll warm up your insides and then you’ll feel the miracles flowing through you, you dig?” he said and nodded to himself.

Sollux’ home was still several blocks away. He didn’t really want to run in the rain, now that he thought about it. It was a stupid idea to begin with. Besides, if the dude really was offering him drugs, he could always refuse. He was pretty sure he could defend himself from the druggie. “What’s your name, anyways?”

“Go by the name Gamzee, motherfucker. But I’m just a brother, you know? You and me are bros now, right?” he patted Sollux’s back.

“Sure, whatever.”

He was honestly expecting Gamzee’s apartment to be a clusterfuck, but much to his surprise, it wasn’t.

Well, by his terms it wasn’t. He was used to seeing small piles of clothes scattered about rooms. His room was like that, Karkat’s room was like that, heck, even Aradia’s room was like that. He was supposing that this Gamzee person was going to fit well with his group of friends. There isn’t exactly much to go by as of yet.

Gamzee closed the door behind them and left his umbrella by the door to let it dry and he chucked his shoes off as well before making his way passed Sollux. “You go on and make yourself comfy, my brother. I’ll just go check on and check if what I’m cooking up is all up and ready for our hungry tummies,” he said, stripping himself of his jacket and leaving it on the floor.

So he was a no shoes type of guy.

Sollux took his shoes off as well, letting Mystery down on the floor as he did so. He took off his jacket and draped it on a chair by the entrance and locked the door. What kind of idiot didn’t lock his door, anyway?

Mystery shook the water from her fur and dashed to a pile of clothes to warm herself up. She picked up a sock and gnawed on it, seemingly happy in her spot on top of the dirty laundry. Sollux let her be. If she was happy, who was he to tarnish her good mood? He petted her on the head and followed Gamzee into the small kitchenette. Said man was in a “kiss the cook” apron, which he scoffed at, and sat at a stool near the counter and planted his elbows on the table. He watched as the man pulled out a pie tin.

Now that the lighting was better and there was no rain in his eyes, Sollux could look at Gamzee better. He was a goddamned juggalo. Why didn’t he notice this earlier? Oh right, his bad eyesight. Fuck his bad eyesight. Whatever. Who was he to judge, anyways? He’s a pretty messed up guy himself.

Said juggalo put the steaming pie tin in front of Sollux and grinned. “It’s my own secret recipe.”

Sollux looked at the pie and raised his eyebrows. “Is this ectoplasmic goo?” he asked, sticking his finger into the weird green pie. He was pretty sure pies weren’t meant to be green. Or slimey. He pulled his finger back out and almost stuck it in his mouth before he realized he was practically accepting candy from a stranger. “What flavor is it?” 

“Faygo,” Gamzee replied and grinned again, sticking his own finger into the pie before taking it out and sampling the flavor. “I read this thing about Faygo cupcakes, yeah? And I though maybe I could make a Faygo pie instead because I’m all up and a horrible at making those tiny little cakes and a lot better at making these nummy pies.”

Well, if he ate it, he supposed it wasn’t poisoned. Sollux stuck his finger in his mouth and stuck his tongue out immediately afterwards. “This tastes horrible,” he said bluntly.

Gamzee shrugged and kept sticking his finger in the pie and licking. “More for me, I guess, which is all up and fine but you are always welcome to have more, my brother. These miracles are meant to be shared, you know? The whole world has got to realize that they’re all up to their necks in the miraculous thing we call life.”

“We’re all up to our necks in… ectoplasmic pie goo?” Sollux asked skeptically, to which Gamzee nodded and he groaned. Okay, so Gamzee was basically harmless and he supposed a peace-loving idiot. That was fine. Totally fine. “Do you mind if I used your shower?”

Gamzee turned his back to him, rummaging through the grocery bag he had with him and pulled out a big bottle of bubble bath and dropped it into Sollux’ arms. “Here you go, motherfucker. I went and got this bottle of magic bubbles. I ran out of it so I though I should go replenish my supply along with other supplies in need of supplying, you dig?”

Shit, this man talks in riddles. Not really, more like circles. Then again, riddles are circles too. Fuck, why was he even thinking about this? “Thanks, I guess.” He stood up and walked to the bathroom (he didn’t bother asking for directions. He’d probably get lost if he got directions from the juggalo), picking up Mystery on the way. She whined but he shooshed her, promising her a warm bath.

Once in the bathroom, much to his chargin he discovered the lock was broken. He sighed and just hoped that Gamzee had a sense of privacy and put the puppy on the floor and he turned the tap on. He took off his shirt, gross and sticky because of the rain, and grabbed the bottle of bubble bath and poured a generous amount into the tub. The water was warm much to his delight and he stripped off the rest of his clothes, putting his phone and AA’s keys somewhere safe, before climbing in.

Mystery found another pile of clothes and made herself comfy again.

He was halfway asleep, bubbles all around him. When was the last time he had a bubble bath? Probably when he was seven or something, he didn’t know, and he forgot how relaxing it was.

He spent a good thirty minutes in there before climbing out and wrapping a towel around his waist. He gave Mystery a bath too and wrapped her up in a shirt that didn’t smell all too bad (he would deny that he sniffed a strangers clothes) and discovered that his own clothes were gone. He frowned and walked out. “GZ? Where the hell are my clothes?”

Gamzee popped his head into view and smiled. “You done in there, my brother? I wanna go and get my clean on as well,” he replied and walked to where Sollux stood half naked. He petted Mystery, who seems to like him well enough.

“Yeah, I’m done and you should use new water unless you’re okay with bathing in a tub of fur that is, but you didn’t answer my question. Where are my clothes?” he asked again, only slightly irked.

Gamzee was already in the bathroom and taking his clothes off. Sollux averted his gaze. “I put them in the oven, you know, so they could dry faster and warm you up. In the meantime, you can all up and borrow a brother’s shirt and shit.” He pointed to a drawer in the corner and started preparing the tub for his own bath.

“Jesus Christ,” Sollux groaned, dashing into the kitchen to check the oven where, indeed, his clothes lay. He put Mystery down and left her to her own musings before walking over to where the drawer was to pull out a shirt and, begrudgingly, a pair of boxers.

Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed the dim glow of a laptop and immediately made his way to it. He sat down on the bed and pulled the laptop onto his lap. He brought it to life by touching a key and stared in horror at the desktop. Now this was something he was not used to seeing.

Holy fuck, was that internet explorer? Holy fuck. 

He didn’t know how long he was on that laptop, he was so busy cleaning it out and purging it of evil (die internet explorer, DIE) and installing anti-virus programs and anti-malware and anti EVERYTHING. No laptop deserves to be subjected to all of these viruses. He’s actually surprised it’s still alive.

He was so distracted that he didn’t notice that Gamzee had crawled beside him and was staring absentmindedly at him. He put the laptop aside and stared back at him. “You’re an abusive laptop owner,” he stated.

“I would never hurt anything,” Gamzee replied. “Love is what we’re all needing, and that’s all I give it. Love and miracles.”

“I’m sure,” he said flatly before whistling and calling for mystery.

The puppy barked happily, running towards the bed and standing on it’s hind legs and trying to jump up on the bed. Sollux picked her up from the floor and placed her in between them. “You don’t mind if she bunked with us here, do you?”

Gamzee picked Mystery up and held her at arm’s length before pulling her back to give her an eskimo kiss. “It’s cool, brother. This little chika here is a miracle herself, what with the little barking bark barks she makes.”

Sollux got his phone, which apparently Gamzee had taken and returned to him, and found no messages from AA. He rolled his eyes and sent her “AA, iim 2leepiing over at a friiend2 place. ii have my2tery wiith me. iill drop her off at your place later.”

As he placed his phone down on the bedside table, an arm wrapped around his waist and pulled him into a hug. He struggled a bit and adjusted himself so that he was facing his captor and frowned. “GZ, what the hell?”

“Shoosh, time for sleep. I won’t even charge you $420 today but next time you are paying full price, motherfucker,” he said with a chuckle and nuzzled. Mystery was curled up on a pillow, sleeping peacefully.

“…Whatever,” Sollux replied after much deliberate decision making. He supposed that a complete stranger hugging him wasn’t one of the weirdest things he’s done so he so no harm in indulging the stranger with his cuddling and squirmed a few minutes in his arms until he found a position that was comfortable. He’d have to admit that it was weird (but not totally unwanted) to have a warm body pressed up against his. The last person he ever cuddled with was AA.

But he found that he couldn’t get a wink of sleep. After all, he only just woke up several hours ago to have dinner with AA and he found himself quite trapped within the confines of Gamzee’s arms. Though, if this guy really was a stoner, he supposed he could wriggle free without disrupting his slumber. It was worth a shot.

He very carefully pried one of Gamzee’s arms off his waist and that was enough to give him leeway to escape. He inched to the edge of the bed and sat up. He couldn’t really go anywhere, it was pouring outside, and there really wasn’t much to do in this relatively large apartment. What the hell did Gamzee even do for a living?

The dim light of the laptop caught his eye one more and he shrugged to himself, pulling it onto his lap. He may as well continue his mission of giving the laptop a better life by deleting all the shit and downloading all the games he thought every laptop should have. He then preceded to play till the brink of dawn, up until early morning till finally his eyelids betrayed him and he was feeling really fucking tired. He shut down the laptop (it has done it’s job well) and yawned. He wondered if he could snuggle back into the hug. It was particularly cold, the windows covered in dew and mist. It was still pretty dark for seven in the morning.

Now that he was too trodden with sleep to give an actual fuck, he carelessly pulled Gamzee’s arm up and laid down next to him and let his arm drape over his chest. He was warm, incredibly so and he easily found himself in a deep slumber.

He dreamed of nothing at first, but he was pretty sure there was a lot of candy and a lot of codes that didn’t really make sense to him but then again, when did his dreams ever make any sense? 

Then again, when did life make any sense? Never.

Which was why he was legitimately confused upon waking up in a strange bed that smelled like cinnamon buns and artificial fruit scents with a tiny dachshund happily licking at his face. If he concentrated enough, he could hear the faint sounds of things moving in the kitchen and the smell of a real meal wafting into the room. It finally clicked, and he patted the puppy’s head gently and smiled at her. “Morning, Mystery. Unless it’s noon, by which then I gladly greet you with a good afternoon.”

He sat up, the puppy leaping into his lap as he yawned, and he scanned the room for a clock or any sort of time telling device. The curtains were drawn closed (he didn’t remember doing that so he assumed his new friend did) so it was hard to tell. Colder today than usual, he thought to himself. He reached for his phone on the bedside table and found out that it was two in the afternoon.

No messages from AA. Must have been a great night.

He got out of bed, Mystery happily following him as he entered the kitchen to find Gamzee in that stupid “kiss the cook” apron and raised his eyebrows. “What’cha making?” he asked, making his way to the counter where plates of food were laid out. There was sunny side up eggs, OJ, and---- Oh my god, BACON.

He helped himself to the bacon, putting a couple of eggs (only because eggs and bacon were great together) onto the plate that was offered to him. He poured himself some juice and took a long swig before digging in.

Gamzee smiled, glad that someone was enjoying the food he was making. “Chill your tits, my brother. I’ve still got some motherfucking French toast and flapjacks coming,” he informed as he flipped a piece of toast in the pan, adding who knows what on top. Probably cinnamon. He hoped it was cinnamon and nothing more.

“What’s with the feast? Are you expecting guests or something?” Sollux asked, slowing down to savor his meal and wait for the rest of it.

“Naw bro, I just like cooking up this and everything like no ones business,” he said indolently as poured batter into the hot pan. He presented the plate of French toast to Sollux who gratefully accepted a couple of pieces.

“What if you make too much?”

“I got myself some neighbors who all love this shit, you know? They come along and go ‘yo, my brother, its all up and smelling like miracles in here! D’ya got any to spare?’” He waved his spatula in the air for emphasis and flipped a flapjack. “And I’m all ‘you bet, motherfucker. Miracles all around.’”

“You’re crazy,” Sollux said with a scoff but shrugged. “I also rebooted your laptop and added a few things. You have to learn not to open every pop-up that comes your way—--No, they are not mysteries waiting to be unfolded, they are Trojans and flashy viruses and worms and all the fucking viruses ever. Your files, amazingly enough, are in tact.”

“I also installed an anti-virus program and a few games. Don’t kill your laptop.”

“Uuuh thanks, I guess?” Gamzee said not too sure. “I don’t really know what you’re all on and going about but if you think it’s the best thing for my lappytop then alright. You’re the boss.” He finally turned the stove off and brought the stack of flapjacks to the table.

They proceeded to eat in silence, only disrupted by the sound of cutlery and the occasional laugh from Gamzee. At some point, Mystery was on Gamzee’s lap and he was feeding her tiny pieces of French toast.

It was much later, after breakfast (or was it lunch?) was served and devoured, that Sollux found himself leering over Gamzee’s shoulder and pointing at the screen of the computer that sat on his lap the several programs he had to run if he was alerted about a virus or the likes.

“You see that red umbrella icon? Yeah, that one. You click it when a box pops up on the corner of the screen. It’s going to have big red words on it, if ever, so it wont be hard to miss it,” Sollux explained at a pace slow enough for Gamzee to understand. “It isn’t hard to do. Then you press scan and then if there are any threats, just hit the heal button and you should be good.”

Gamzee nodded slowly after Sollux’ instructions, a lazy smile on his face. “So this has gotta happen every month?” he asked, hovering the mouse over the icon of the anti-virus program, then to the anti-malware program.

“Yes, basically,” Sollux said with a nod. “I installed CCleaner and it’s advisable to use it if you want your laptop to work relatively faster. Also defraggler but I’m guessing it’s not going to have any sort of actual value to you but I guess it may come in handy sometimes. Just, I dunno, give me a call if you need help with it, I guess.”

“I’d call you all the time brother, if I could you know, but I don’t have your digits so I can’t,” he elaborated with a relaxed tone, leaning back on his arms and stretching his neck. It cracked horribly but both of them were used to the sound of cracking bones.

“Oh, right. Of course.” Sollux held out his hand and Gamzee dropped his phone onto his palm. He punched in his number and saved it under “Sollux, the random guy who invaded your personal space” and handed it back to him.

Now that he thought about it, he didn’t actually introduce himself. Holy fuck, either Gamzee was an ignorant fool who trusts anyone who’d lend him an ear or someone confident enough to protect himself from whatever harm may come his way. Maybe both. Sollux sure as hell knew that the possibilities of him winning in a fistfight were slim, even if his opponent was someone of more or less the same build.

Gamzee, in fact, was someone who was a far ways away from being of the same build. Despite that, he felt like he could trust him. After all, Mystery seemed to like him and Mystery had a great choice in people (she keeps barking at Aradia’s neighbor Vriska because holy hell on ice she’s a huge bitch).

He gazed out the window, the rain still pouring relatively hard. He grabbed his phone and started to type out a message.

AA, iit2 raiiniing cat2 and dog2. re2t a22ured though, becau2e My2tery ii2nt falliing from the sky.

holy fuck, iignore that la2t me22age. that wa2 2tupiid.

anyway2, iim gue22iing you and the biig guy are gettiing all warm and nuzzled up iin each other2 arm2. good for you. that2 great.

agaiin, iim a text away and 2hiit.

He dropped his phone beside him and sighed, rubbing his temples gently. It was lucky he didn’t have any big projects at the moment. If he did, he’d be flipping his shit by now---

His phone vibrated. AA replied faster than he knew she could. Must be really eager to tell him about her night. He picked his phone back up and stared at an unfamiliar number, before deciding that checking it out was a thing that he was going to do.

HeY, MoThErFuCkeR! WhAt aRe YoU aLl Up To :0)

He stared at the screen on his phone for a few moments, before turning his gaze to Gamzee who was now laying on his back, phone held at arms length in the air. He grinned at him lopsidedly and gave a tiny wave.

Sollux waved back.

After a few seconds of awkward stares (it felt awkward on his side anyways), he finally set his phone aside. “I guess the rain is going to last a while, huh?”

“It ain’t no problem. The clouds are all up there in the air all sad like and crying their big poofy eyes out, you dig? But that’s all fine and dandy and a bag of nuts. They’re all just having a feelings jam, you know? Letting it all out and maybe slamming a few sick rhymes.” Gamzee nodded, patting the spot beside him in invitation.

Sollux sat beside him and subsequently received a belly rub. It was completely weird. “Uh?” he asked intelligently, raising his eyebrows so high in confusion as Gamzee continued to pap and rub his stomach as if he were a dog. Wait, where was Mystery? He peered around the room and saw that the puppy was sniffing around the place. “Hey, Mystery,” he called, to which the puppy responded and dashed to the foot of the bed and tried to clamber up. Sollux moved away from Gamzee’s grasp for a few seconds to scoop up the little dog into his arms. “Do you wanna go out for walk or something? Kinda wet outside though.”

The rain died down to a drizzle. They could walk.

Mystery let out a tiny bark and wagged her tail excitedly. She began to lick his fingers and gnaw on them, wanting to be let go so she could take her much needed walk. Sollux let her down again and put his hand over Gamzee’s hand to stop the tummy touching. “We’re going for a walk,” he told him. “You’re coming.”

“Right on, motherfucker.” He got out of bed and picked up a jacket that was on the floor and shrugged it on. Sollux dressed up as well (Using Gamzee’s clothes, mind you) and rolled back the sleeves of his borrowed shirt up to his elbows. He was ready to go.

But, as it would seem, Gamzee was not.

The taller of the two was sprawled out on the floor, Mystery jumping happily on his chest as he made cooing noises at her. She seemed to enjoy being babied, it seemed, and he had to admit that what he was witnessing was incredibly adorable. He walked to them, Mystery seizing her jumping to look at him. Her tongue lolled out of her mouth and her tail wagged excitedly. She let out a little bark and jumped a few more times on Gamzee’s chest before jumping off and dashing to the door. She waited for them to follow after her.

Gamzee sat up, chuckling to himself. “Wishing I had myself a little pupster of my own, you know? Always wanted one. Never really got the chance to up and get one for myself,” he told him as he stood up. He was mostly talking to himself now, not that Sollux minded. He wasn’t really in a talkative mood. “Think I want one of those really, really big pupsters, you know? Then the two of us will be the bestest bros. He can eat my pies and everything.”

They were outside now, Mystery walking by their feet. Sollux still found it amazing that Aradia had trained Mystery well.

After a while of silence and lazily walking down the damp sidewalks, Sollux spoke up. “Why don’t you get a dog then?” he asked, shoving his hands into his pockets. “I’m pretty sure that there’s an animal shelter nearby.”

“There is?” Gamzee asked, turning his head to look at Sollux with hopeful curiosity. “I didn’t know that, bro. That’s pretty fucking awesome if you ask me. Where’s it all up and residing at?” he asked, a little more lively that Sollux has ever heard (he’s only known him for a night so he supposes that doesn’t really matter much) and it kind of brings a smile to his lips.

“It’s not too far from here,” he replied. “Coupla blocks, more or less.” He shrugged and added “wanna go there now? I need to buy more treats for Mystery anyway.” He’ll be honest with himself. Mystery is sort of like Aradia and Equius’ child and he is that one uncle who just absolutely loves to spoil his niece.

“No, not today, man,” the other replied, though the happy look did not disappear from his face. “I gotta get my place all set up for a new pupster to be hanging out and chilling with me. It’s going to be so fucking wicked, I can already taste the miracles,” he nodded enthusiastically.

“Right, that’s great. Totally,” Sollux replied. “I guess you could just give me a call when you’re ready to get your dog.”

“Sure thing, man.”


	2. Chapter 2

They parted ways that night, much to Gamzee’s disappointment. He seemed to like the company of Sollux and Mystery and that was kind of sweet of him, if Sollux had to be honest to himself. Not a lot of people really like him because of his jack-assy attitude. In fact, all his friends were jackasses.

He went back to Aradia’s apartment after receiving a text “hes taking me back home sollux go back to my place i have so much to tell you!!!!!” which he grimaced at. He really hoped she didn’t intend to tell him the “juicy details” because that is just sick and wrong.

Mystery was more than happy to be back home, jumping into her little spot in the corner, which was covered in several squeaky toys (most of them from Sollux) that she loved to chew on. Sollux draped himself over Aradia’s couch and waited for her to come home. It was around nine when he started to hear voices from outside, a giggle from AA and a deep chuckle from Equius. Mystery was already at the door, scratching at it and excited to see her mommy---master. 

He opened the door before either of the two could knock and gave them both knowing looks, waggling his eyebrow like he knew the biggest secret in the world. Aradia giggled and Equius sort of lost his cool and stumbled a bit at the door. He gave a sheepish grin. “Captor,” he greeted with a nod.

Sollux nodded back. “Zahhak.”

“When are you two going to going to address each other properly?” Aradia giggled, pushing past Sollux and into her apartment.

“Maybe never,” Sollux said with a shrug.

“I would like to keep the formalities between us, Aradia. I find that I am not yet what Mr. Captor would consider a “bro.” Whatever relationship that the two of us may share is completely civil,” Equius explained seriously. “Perhaps when the two of us have bonded more.”

“Aradia, he’s doing that thing again,” Sollux chuckled.

“What thing again is it that I am doing?” Equius asked with a raised eyebrow.

Aradia giggled and leaned against the doorframe. “Acting like an adoptive father and trying to earn the trust of my beloved son, Sollux,” she answered, smiling brightly at the concept of settling down with him.

Equius blushed slightly, though it was too dark outside to actually notice it. “I was not aware that I was operating in such a way. I do apologize if it has made either of you uncomfortable.”

Sollux laughed. “It’s cool.”

“Are you coming in?” Aradia asked.

Equius shook his head. “I’m afraid that I have business to attend to. Conceivably we can schedule that for another day, when perhaps the three of us are relatively free. That is to say, if you are willing to join us, Mr. Captor” he responded with a slight upturn of his lips directed at Aradia.

“Nah, I’m good. I wouldn’t want to be a third wheel,” he said with a slight shrug. “Well, go on you’re going to be late for whatever it is you’re going to do.”

Aradia leaned out the doorframe and pecked Equius on the lips before lightly shoving him to send him on his way. “Go on, go on. We’ll talk and make plans later.” She tucked a stray strand of hair behind her ear and giggled quietly when Equius fumbled with his keys.

Aradia waved and sent him a flying kiss before closing the door and turned her attention to Sollux who was grinning from ear to ear. She pouted playfully and shoved him. “What’s that look for!” she complained with an amused smile as Sollux fanned himself with his hand.

“God, AA. Your boyfriend is just so fucking manly. I can’t even believe that such a perfect specimen of a man exists!” He draped his arm around her shoulders and sighed in faux despondency. “I was too late. You wooed him before I could and I’ve lost the love of my life.” He buried his head in the nook of her shoulder and pretended to sob.

She patted his back as if she were trying to comfort him. “You seem happy today. Did something special happen?” she asked as she led them to her bedroom. “You know you can tell me anything, Sollux. You’re like the little sister I never had,” she said as she sat him down on the edge of her bed.

“You’re an upright ass AA, and you know it,” Sollux laughed. “And for that, you shall pay the consequences!!” He pulled her onto the bed and started tickling her sides and she laughed uncontrollably and begged for him to stop.

After they had settled down and changed into more comfortable clothes (Sollux and Aradia often slept over at each other’s apartments), two mugs of chocolate milk lay in the microwave, they sat at the small dining table and Aradia beamed at him. “So,” she started, pulling at the sleeves of her shirt. “Aren’t you going to ask me what happened?”

He scoffed and planted his elbow on the table, resting his chin on the back of his hand. “Even if I didn’t you’d tell me anyway,” he retorted. “But I’ll amuse you. AA, please oh please tell me what happened on your date with Zahhak! I’m dying to find out,” he said in a girlish tone, with a flip of his imaginary hair. He loved being an ass to her.

“Oh, let me go get my nail polish then I’ll tell you all about it,” she laughed then smacked his arms lightly. “But really Sollux, yesterday was the most romantic night of my life!!” she sighed dreamily and even as she went to fetch their hot chocolate she had a silly grin on her face.

Sollux took one cup from her and sipped. “Proceed.”

“So, you know, he took me to dinner, right? And it was this really, really fancy place! It had chandeliers and everything and those guys who go around playing violins!” She took a sip and continued. “After that guess where he took me!!!”

“His place then you shagged?” Sollux offered.

“No!! Not yet!!” she countered. “C’mon, guess!!!”

Sollux shrugged. He didn’t exactly know what romantic was. “I’m drawing a blank, AA.”

“We went horseback riding!!!” She exclaimed, clapping her hands together heartily. “Can you believe it? We were driving for at least two hours and he wouldn’t tell me where we were going!! Ooooh, Sollux, it was so fun and it was so great it’s like a dream come true or something!” she swooned.

“Well, I’m glad you’re happy,” he said chuckling under his breath. “Ever consider settling down with him?”

“Of course I have!! It’s going to be great and you will be our child’s godfather, okay?” she took his hand in hers and shook it, as if sealing the deal.

After Aradia had calmed down, she turned to Sollux and smiled. “So, how did your night go? Anything exciting?”

“Made a new friend, sort of,” Sollux said with an indifferent shrug of his shoulders. “He’s weird but cooks really good food. I think he’s a stoner; I’m not too sure. I haven’t seen a bong or anything like that but he says a lot of weird things, it kind of gets hard to comprehend what he’s trying to say.” He explained. “He said he wanted to go get a dog, Mystery likes him by the way so I trust that he’s pretty okay, and I said I’d tag along.”

“You actually made a new friend?” She gasped. “That’s good Sollux!! Really, you need more friends, you know! I mean, Karkat is okay but being around him can get scary sometimes, and I don’t mean that Karkat is scary but sometimes he looks like he’s going to have an aneurism at any given moment.”

“But that’s what makes him so fun,” he laughed. “But yeah, I think you might like the guy, he’s pretty nice. He said I could come over for breakfast or lunch or whatever if I felt like it.”

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

It was seven in the fucking morning. Who the fuck was calling him at seven in the fucking morning?

Grabbing his phone from the bedside table, Sollux roughly shoved it against his ear and growled out a groggy ‘hello, fuck you’ and waited for whoever it was to talk to him already.

_“Yo, brother. What’s going on, man?”_

“Gamzee,” he growled, “it’s seven am. What the fuck do you want?”

_“You gotta get that butt of yours outta bed and back at my place soon, man, because I’m all up and gonna be going to get my walk on and wid-waddle my way to get myself a little buddy woof-dog to be my best motherfucking companion, you dig?”_ there was a rusting on the other end of the phone and Sollux assumed he was getting dressed up.

He sat up a bit and rubbed his eyes with his free hand and groaned. “Wait, I’m too fucking sleep deprived to understand a lick of what you just said so run that through me again except, you know, in a language that’s not stupid or hard to understand maybe.” He swung his legs off the bed and stood up, letting out a big yawn. 

_“I’m all up and ready to go to be getting Francis and take him home.”_

Sollux was pouring milk into a glass and he paused to comprehend. “…You’re picking up a man named Francis?”

_“Well, Francis don’t gotta be a man. Could be a lady. It don’t really matter. I’m just real fucking excited about the miracle that is about to take place.”_

“Wait, wait, you’re being really fucking obscure here and that’s not really helping me, especially while I’m in this current state of mind which is me with really bad cognitive skills, okay?” He spilled some of the milk and groaned in frustration.

_“I’m just all and inviting you to go pick up my soon to be pupster. You said I should give you a ring-a-ling-ding if I up and needed your assistance and hell, I think I’m all up and needing a pair of helping hands to help me out, you see?”_ He replied with a laugh. _“So are you up for it or are you up for it, motherfucker?”_

Sollux groaned and looked at the clock again. It was still seven am. “Right now? Does it absolutely have to be right now? I don’t even know if that store is open right now and you want to go _right now?_ ” he almost seethed through the phone. “Did you even go to sleep?”

_“I can assure you brother that the store is all awake and ready to be selling some love,”_ Gamzee chuckled lightly.

“And why are you so sure about that?” Sollux asked, going back into his room to pull on a hoodie and get ready to leave even if it was seven in the fucking morning. “I swear I will kill you and burn your house down if it’s still closed.” He squeezed his phone in between his shoulder blade and his ear as he bent down to tie his shoes. He didn't know why he was getting ready to leave anyway. He just felt like his motherly senses were tingling. The thought of Gamzee going alone into a pet store was either a really funny thing or something he was going to regret later. He might as well escort the guy since he was awake and had nothing to do today anyway.

_“I’m standing outside the store right now, that’s why. The little lady in there is like, looking at me with this big old smile of hers and stuff.”_

Oh. Well then. “Oh. Well then, I’ll be on my way I guess. Let me just grab a cup of coffee and I’ll see you there,” he replied. He hung up his phone and went back into his apartment kitchen and grabbed a mug and filled it with water. He shoved the mug into the microwave and set it to 2:22 and rummaged around the cabinets for his instant coffee. He found it, poured it into a tumbler and waited for the microwave to go off. When it did, he poured the water into the tumbler, gave it a few stirs and added a dollop of honey before heading out. Coffee sated him.

It was particularly cold that day (then again, it’s been particularly cold the whole month, not that Sollux minded) and the warm coffee sliding down his throat was more than welcome. He may or may not hit Gamzee for waking him up so early. That would depend entirely on how he felt once he got there.

Said trip, as it would turn out, was one of the best morning strolls he’s had in a while. There were no assholes screaming at him to get out of the way, nor were there any shady persons coercing him into buying questionable substances. Maybe this was why everyone woke up in the morning instead of night. 

He looked up and realized why he liked waking up at night. The sun was blaring down on him, bright but not hot but still very much irritating to his already very sensitive eyes. He took one long sip of his coffee and it was enough to keep him in his good mood. He shoved his hand into his pocket and dug out his anaglyph shades and put them on, slowly making his way to where Gamzee was.

It was around eight when he finally arrived, and not to his surprise, he found Gamzee sitting atop of a trash can, muttering quietly to himself about who knows what. Sollux was more or less surprised that the shopkeeper hadn’t asked him to leave because he was scaring away her customers but shrugged. His tumbler devoid of coffee now, he walked up to Gamzee and tapped his shoulder. “Dude, yo. I’m here.”

Snapping out of his trance, Gamzee smiled lazily at his new computer genius friend. “Hey there, Sol bro. Glad you could make it,” he greeted, hopping off of the trashcan, no signs of irritation at all at Sollux’ late coming. He dusted his pants off idly before wrapping his arm around Sollux’ shoulders. “This is gonna be great, bro. You, me and my little pupster hanging out all day and hey, maybe Mystery can come along too.” He looked around Sollux’ feet for five seconds before looking back up with a confused look. “Where is little Mystery?”

“Back with AA,” Sollux replied with a shrug. “Are we going to take long? Because I think I’m going to need another tumbler or two of coffee if I’m going to be hanging out with you. Or, well, maybe not. You don’t exactly look like you move fast so I guess we can hang out without too much moving, right?”

“Naw, man. Gonna go back home and get Francis all familiar with the pad” he replied, tugging Sollux and going into the shop. The tiny bell at the door rang, catching the girl behind the counter’s attention. She looked up and grinned at them (sort of, she wasn’t exactly looking at them), ending the call on her phone before making her way towards them. She had a walking stick, it’s end shaped like a red dragons head (which was weird but pretty cool).

“What can I do you for, boys?” she asked with the same grin, pushing her red glasses up the bridge of her nose. Was she blind?

“Are you blind?” Sollux asked blatantly as he escaped Gamzee’s half-hug grip. “Or do you like to pretend to be blind so you have an advantage?” he was incredibly open about his thoughts sometimes and they were often blunt but he didn’t really give a damn if people thought he was an a-hole (he admits that he’s an asshole with pride).

“Wow, rude,” she sneered, though the grin never left her face. “Do you like being a complete and utter asshole or can you not help it?” she asked, thwacking Sollux’ shin with her cane in retaliation. “I’ll have you know that I’m legally blind,” she explained after Sollux hissed out a swear. “Besides, I can smell you just fine, Mr. Appleberry blast,” she said, finding Sollux’ face with her hand to observe his features.

“And my personal space has just been invaded,” he commented, swatting her hands away before grabbing Gamzee by the arm to pull him into the conversation. “Anyway, my friend here is looking for a pupster----- puppy to call his own.” Gamzee nodded to an invisible tune and Sollux continued “What kind of dog do you think suits him?”

The girl hummed thoughtfully, reaching out to touch Gamzee’s face (which in turn smudged Gamzee’s face paint). She leaned forward and sniffed him. “You smell like blueberries and carbonated soda,” she cackled, squeezing her way in between the two of them and linked her arms around theirs. “C’mon boys, let me show you where we keep the lovelies at.” She led them further in the store, her cane hitting Sollux’ leg at each step and Sollux didn’t know if it was deliberately or completely by accident. Either way, his leg was sore.

The lovelies, as it turned out, were very, very lovely indeed.

That or Sollux just had a soft spot for animals in general.

Little puppies all crowded around their feet once entering a glass walled room, jumping and barking happily at the new visitors. Some pawed at their legs while others played with chew toys and really, who didn’t like puppies? Sollux broke off from the girl’s grasp, as did Gamzee, and they crouched down to pet all the puppies they could. Some of them nipped at their fingers playfully.

“Awww, motherfucker!!” Gamzee exclaimed happily, trying to cradle as many puppies in his arms as he could. “Shit, can we get all of them?”

Sollux, who had two identical puppies in his arms, shook his head. “You look like you can barely take care of yourself, let alone a single puppy,” he said, wondering if he should get a puppy of his own as well. One of the puppies clambered up his chest, licking his chin affectionately. Holy fucking shit, he wanted his own puppy.

“Aww, but look at all their wag waggie tails. All so freaking adorable what with all their bark barks.” Gamzee sort of looked like he was at a loss, not entirely sure which puppy he should choose. He picked one up and rubbed his nose against the puppy’s nose, cooing who knows what.

“Hey Gamzee, I think I’ve got an idea” Sollux said, standing up with the two small puppies in his arms. “We can get one each, yeah? Then we’ll have, well, more than one puppy.” He explained with a shrug.

The girl was leaning on her walking stick, a shit-eating grin plastered on her face. “God, you two sound like a married couple trying to adopt or something,” she sniggered, earning a glare from Sollux that she didn’t see.

“Hey,” he said, squinting at the nametag of the girl. “Terezi? Yeah, fuck you,” he said bluntly with a scowl. Stupid, nosy girl.

“Sure thing, Solbro,” Gamzee said nodding, standing up and joining Sollux. “Whoaa,” he said, looking at the puppies in his friend’s arms. “Wow, they’re like two peas in a pod, you know, all up and looking like reflections of each other.” He made baby noises at the puppies and Sollux rolled his eyes.

Terezi sniffed a bit and petted the puppies, feeling their dog tags to recognize which ones were in Sollux’ arms. “Oh, yeah, these two are from the same mother. They’re the last of the kin, you see?” she patted both the puppies heads carefully and Sollux could see why she was working in a pet shop of all places instead of somewhere that was safer for blind people to work in. She was really careful with the animals and seemed to know them like they were her own, he supposed, which was nice. Despite that annoyingly smug and all knowing grin, he supposed that Terezi wasn’t as bad a person he initially thought her to be.

Another asshole with the potential to he his friend. He should keep that in mind, seeing as he didn’t have that many friends to begin with.

Gamzee, however, was not an asshole. That or Gamzee just hasn’t shown his asshole-ishness to him yet.

“These two little cuties were never adopted because they’re pretty small for their age, poor things,” she said, continuing to pet the puppies. “I’d love to see them go to a nice home…” she stared at the two of them (at least in their general direction) and smiled, hoping that they would be the ones to adopt the puppies.

Before Sollux could tell her anything, Gamzee nodded with a smile. “Sure thing, sis. These little pupsters are coming home with me and Solbro here. Gonna give them the best motherfucking home we can get them,” he said, wrapping his arm around Sollux like a proud father. “They’re gonna grow up to be big and strong just like their old man, cute little cuties.” He gazed down at them like they were the most precious things in the world and Sollux couldn’t help but agree.

What he agreed with, he wasn’t quite sure.

Terezi clapped her hands, obviously happy. “That’s great!!” she said, walking over to give Gamzee a hug (which was funny because she almost hugged the wall) and Sollux a friendly punch on the arm. “C’mon,” she said, leading them back to the counter “lets get things settled with then.”

So it was then that Gamzee and Sollux walked out of the pet store with two new puppies to be part of their family.

(Sollux found it odd that Terezi didn’t find Gamzee odd. He asked her why and she simply said something about Gamzee being very psychedelic and chill and she liked that. She told them that the two of them were welcome any time and that she’d like to know how the puppies are doing every now and then).

“I call dibs on the one with the red collar,” Sollux said as they made their way back to Gamzee’s apartment. “No, wait, the blue one,” he said, changing his mind. “Or.. No, maybe the red one……”

Gamzee laughed lightly, bonking his head against Sollux’. “You can have both, bro, so long as I get both too.”

“What, you mean like share?” Sollux asked, staring at Gamzee skeptically. “Well, yeah… I guess you’re right. We shouldn’t separate them I guess. Not until they’re a little older… And I guess moving them from one place to another every so often would be a hassle… I don’t want to have to keep going to your place to play with them and I don’t want you to keep going to mine…”

The little cogs in Sollux’ brain whirled, forming an idea in his head as Gamzee basically ignored his little rant. “Hey,” he said (several times) to catch Gamzee’s attention. “Wanna move in together?” He asked. “For one, if we live in one place, the puppies can be together and another thing is that electric bills will go down since we’d be sharing and therefore we’d be saving the planet too.”

“Saving the planet?” Gamzee echoed.

“Yes, saving the planet,” Sollux confirmed. He kind of wished he had coffee right now. “Hey, you wouldn’t happen to have food at your place, would you?”

Gamzee, who seemed to be contemplating the miraculous effects of living together with Sollux, was snapped out of his thoughts shook his head. “Naw bro, kitchen is void of food. Nary a crumb or crumble of the deliciousness that I was gonna make, or already made but its all up in someone’s belly.” He looked at the sky for a few seconds and grabbed Sollux’ wrist to drag him to a detour.

“Whoa, what? Where are we going?” Sollux asked as he tried to balance himself while still cradling the puppies.

“Gonna go get us some grub, you know? There’s this place that’s got some real motherfucking awesome delicious yummy pancakes and they serve it with a smile, you know? It’s like, trying to tell you, the pancake is, “good morning, motherfucker. Breakfast is the most important meal of the day! Would you like some oj to go with me?”” he said with a nod.

“Well, sure, sounds great. Do they sell coffee?” Breakfast sounded great (despite the way Gamzee explained it) and any place with coffee was sure to be a decent place.

And as it would turn out, the pancakes they served really did have faces on them. Egg eyes and bacon lips and a tomato nose. Gamzee seemed to be a regular at the place because the little café’s patrons greeted him so warmly. They didn’t even bother to ask Gamzee for what he wanted because someone merely shouted “Mornin’ Makara! Getting the usual again? Of course you are! It’ll be ready in a few minutes!” Gamzee nodded but said he wanted two today and Sollux supposed the second one was for him. He did, however, order a grande sized coffee and asked if they had honey to go with it.

The pancakes were great. Not as great as Gamzee’s flapjacks but still great. He took much joy in eating the face, the puppies taking residence on the cushioned seat next to Gamzee. The puppies received their breakfast as well (some of Gamzee’s orange juice and a few pieces from their pancakes). Sollux downed his coffee like it was the elixir to eternal youth and sighed contentedly. Today went better than he expected.


	3. Chapter 3

Today didn’t go exactly as he had planned.

Yet again he found himself in the middle of a rainstorm. He’s just lucky that today he reached Gamzee’s apartment before he got wet.

“I guess you should meet AA sometime,” Sollux said as Gamzee unlocked his door (which wasn't actually locked, really) and led him inside. “She loves animals too and she gets along great with other animal lovers. Maybe she can TZ can be friends too..”

“What’s an AA?” Gamzee asked, tilting his head slightly to the side. “Batteries?”

“No, I told you before,” Sollux replied with an exasperated sigh “She’s my best friend. She likes dogs. She owns Mystery.”

“Oh, why didn’t you say so?” Gamzee said, making his way to his bedroom to plop down on his bed. 

Sollux followed suit, handing the puppies to Gamzee before he did. “I did tell you. Several times.” He reminded. “Well, anyways, did you have any names in mind--- Oh right. Francis. Which one is Francis?” Sollux asked, looking at the puppies. They were both girls and Francis, he supposed, could be an awesome name for a girl too.

“This one is,” Gamzee said, patting the puppy at his right. It yawned before licking Gamzee’s fingers happily.

“Then her name is Caesar,” Sollux retaliated, picking up Caesar in his arms.

“That’s a fucking great name, bro.” Gamzee said.

Honestly, Sollux didn’t know what sort of reaction he was suspecting. Either way, he really did intend to give her the name Caesar. Julius Caesar is his and Aradia’s favorite work of Shakespeare and he’s always wanted to name something Caesar. He was sure that Aradia was going to love this little cutie too. “So,” Sollux stated after a few minutes of admiring the cuteness of the puppies. “Regarding the moving in together thing.”

Gamzee rolled to face him. “Yeah bro, I’ve all up and got my listening on. Lay it on me,” he said nodding.

“Right,” Sollux replied, looking around the room. “Well, your place is a hell of a lot bigger than mine so that is a definite “yes we’re staying at your place” and a no to staying at mine,” he nodded to himself and laid down beside Gamzee as if it were a perfectly normal thing to do. “Plus I’ve got less stuff than you so it will be easier for me to move instead of you.”

“Right on, man,” Gamzee nodded languidly. He didn’t have much to add to that. “It’s going to be a motherfucking party everyday. You and me, Solbro, and maybe Francis and Caesar too.”

“And AA,” Sollux added. “And Mystery.”

“Yeah, sure man. Everyone is fucking invited and we can like, make cakes and shit. It’s gonna be the fucking bomb, bro.”

“You are pretty indifferent about some stranger moving in with you. No, scratch that. You are completely enthusiastic about a stranger moving in with you and I don’t know if I should be glad or not. Either you have great social skills or my lack of any makes me believe you are,” Sollux had Caesar sleeping silently on his stomach and he petted the little puppy absentmindedly. He was making a mental checklist of all the things that he needed to take with him and also to check out of that shitty apartment of his.

Another benefit to moving in with a complete stranger: now he lives a little closer to Aradia.

Gamzee sat and stretched his arms, yawning. He stared out the window and noticed the rain was starting again. He felt a little bummed out, seeing as his cloud friends were all down in the dumps again and gray looking. He hoped that they’d cheer up soon and thought of things that he could do to make them feel better.

He was pretty sure that Tavros had said something about rain dancing, to which his loud-mouthed friend retaliated with “THAT’S A STUPID IDEA, TAVROS.” He pondered upon what Tavros had told him: did he have to dance in the rain or did he have to do a dance dedicated to the rain? He wasn’t exactly sure. He picked up his laptop on where it sat on the floor and brought it to his lap to compose his message.

**terminallyCapricious [TC] began trolling  adiosToreador [AT]**

**** TC: HeY, MoThErFuCkEr :0)  
AT: oH, hEY GAMZEE, wHAT’S UP? }:)  
TC: NoThInG mUcH, BrO  
TC: HoW dO tHoSe MiRaCuLoUs RaIn DaNcEs Go? tHe ClOuDs ArE aLl Up AnD LoOkInG lIkE sOmEoNe AlL uP aNd StOle ThEiR hApPy  
TC: D0:  
AT: sO IT’S RAINING HARD THERE TOO?  
AT: i DON’T THINK THERE IS MUCH YOU CAN DO ABOUT THE CLOUDS, GAMZEE, }:(  
AT: uNLESS YOU CAN CONTROL THE,, UH, WEATHER OR SOMETHING, wHICH WOULD ACTUALLY BE PRETTY COOL,  
TC: AwWwW :0(  
AT: dON’T WORRY, GAMZEE, iT WILL LET UP EVENTUALLY, tHEY CAN’T STAY SAD FOREVER,  
TC: I gUeSs YoU’Re RiGhT :0(  
AT: aWW, DON’T BE SAD,  
AT: i GUESS I CAN STILL IMPART TO YOU ABOUT RAIN DANCES AND STUFF,  
AT: tHISISHOWTHEYDOITITHINK.avi  
AT: tHERE, i THINK THAT’S HOW IT’S DONE,  
TC: :0D  
AT: bUT I DON’T KNOW IF RAIN DANCES ARE ACTUALLY AFFECTIVE,  
TC: ItS’S cOoL, It’s ChIlL bRo  
TC: TrYiNg Is BeTtEr ThAn JuSt SiTtInG oN oUr BuTtS aNd DoInG nOtHiNg WhEn OuR cLoUd BrOs ArE fEeLiNg AlL sAd!  
TC: ThAnKs, mAn!  
AT: uH, nO PROBLEM. }:)  
AT: aND GOOD LUCK WITH MAKING THEM FEEL BETTER,

Gamzee smiled to himself and downloaded the file that was sent to him. He watched as the people in the video began to dance, very much liking the music that went with it. He turned his head to look at Sollux, who seem to be preoccupied with his own thoughts to notice that there was very native sounding music playing at a considerably loud volume. He turned his attention back to the screen and when he deemed himself educated enough in the art of rain dancing, he put his laptop back on the floor and stood up.

The movement snapped Sollux out of whatever trance he was in and he sat up as well. “Are you going somewhere?” he asked with raised eyebrows.

“Gonna go out, yo,” Gamzee replied, opening his closet to dig out his raincoat and galoshes. “I thought that, you know, the clouds would appreciate a little feet moving and arm waving for them.” He pulled the galoshes on and shrugged on the raincoat.

“What the fuck are you talking about?” Sollux asked, his eyebrows rising higher in confusion.

Gamzee didn’t bother with an answer and just shrugged. No one usually understood what he was talking about so he never bothered to explain his actions in detail anymore. It would waste his time and he’s kind of in a hurry; the rain is getting stronger and the clouds must be feeling a whole lot gloomier. He waved goodbye at Sollux and walked out the door.

He was half way down the apartment building when he realized that Sollux was right behind him and actually nagging him about one thing or another. “What?” he asked, tilting his head to the side. “I didn’t quite catch what you said, bro.”

Sollux groaned and let out an aggravated sigh. “Look, its raining cats and dogs outside. I don’t know what convinced you to go outside to dance in the rain or perform whatever jugallo ritual you believe in but I say it’s a stupid idea unless you want to catch a cold.”

“Naw man, I’m good,” he replied easily. “I’ve got my anti-wet suit on so it’s okay to go splashy-splashy.” He pushed the doors of the entrance open and walked into the rain like walking into the shower. He had his face pointed up to the sky and his arms held out and he stayed like that for a few long seconds to get in touch with the rain.

“You’ve gotta be shitting me,” Gamzee heard Sollux say and soon enough, the shorter male was standing beside him with an umbrella held high above his and Gamzee’s head. “You are crazy.”

Gamzee pushed the hand holding up the umbrella aside, letting himself feel the cool of the rain. His face paints were smearing down now, leaving dull white blotches of it streaming down his face and clothes. “I can’t go on and dance properly if you’re hiding me from their eyes.”

“Who’s eyes?”

He points up. “The clouds, bro.”

“That’s stupid,” Sollux said flatly.

Gamzee tugged the umbrella out of Sollux’ grasp and tossed it aside (to which Sollux cussed at him). He held the other boy’s hands in his and spun around happily even when Sollux’ protests began to fill up with elaborate metaphors and a lot of curse words.

“Let me teach you how to fucking do the rain dance,” he said with a smile, leaning forward to peck Sollux’ nose playfully.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry, short chapter but I might upload the next part today too :)
> 
> I wish I wish I was knowledgeable at html-ing :) :( :)


	4. Chapter 4

Sollux did indeed learn the rain dance with Gamzee’s very interesting way of teaching (and he would deny the fact that he actually had a hell of a lot of fun playing in the rain like a kid) but it came at a price, which was, much to his distaste, his health.

So there he was, tucked under several layers of very kiddie blankets and comforters (there was a Power Rangers one, holy shit that made him smile) and taking up the whole bed. He’d insisted that he could take the couch but Gamzee told him that the sick should stay in bed because beds hold miraculous things that heal us when we sleep. At least that was what he was told and he didn’t really have enough strength in him to argue.

The puppies, two little chowies (Caesar was a brown chocofluffball and Francis was a poofyblackiepuffball), were nestled at the foot of the bed, gnawing on chew toys with their tails raised high and wagging enthusiastically. Sollux turned to lay on his side, coughing slightly as he reached for a ply of tissue to spit out the phlegm. He groaned at the sickly yellow-tinge of it and crumpled the tissue, tossing it into the trash bin that was laid next to the bed.

Gamzee stayed occupied in the kitchen, no doubt making a feast yet again (and Sollux hoped that it was sick person friendly).

Gamzee came out after a couple of minutes, holding a steaming bowl of something in his hands. He sat on the edge of the bed next to Sollux and grinned at him. “You all up and caught the midnight fever my brother,” he said chuckling quietly. “But that’s all right because I’ve gone and made you some hello soup,” he added, setting the bowl down first to help Sollux sit up against the headboard of the bed. He reclaimed the soup and presented it to Sollux.

Sollux squinted at the contents of the soup, wondering what the hell “Hello soup” was. Was the soup supposed to talk to him or something?

“It ain’t gonna bite you,” Gamzee encouraged.

Sollux squinted more and realized it was alphabet soup. The word “Hello” was spelled in soggy noodles and he scoffed.

“It’s happy to see you.”

“I’m going to devour its face,” Sollux replied, seizing the spoon and plunking it in the bowl with a warm splash. He didn’t really notice it’s weird olive green color at first; he just wanted something warm to soothe his sore throat. He couldn’t even smell it. He swallowed a spoonful, only faintly tasting it. “… Did you blenderize every type of vegetable residing in the chiller or something because it pretty much tastes like that.”

“I also blenderized chicken, you know, so it’s kinda like chicken soup except with a whole lot more greens because it’s good for you,” the taller of the two explained, patting Sollux atop his head. He stood up and patted the puppies as well, who stopped playing and followed him into the kitchen. It was time for their snacks and they were yipping excitedly as they tailed Gamzee.

Sollux ate the weird soup concoction silently and gratefully, thoroughly enjoying the warmth that it provided. After finishing half the bowl, he set it aside and laid back down. They were supposed to move his things in that day but this god damned flu prevented him from doing much aside from coughing and complaining. Aradia was excited to meet Gamzee too.

Gamzee came back with a glass of water and a pill and handed them to Sollux who swallowed it immediately. “Thanks,” he replied tiredly despite the fact that he had been bed ridden for a day and a half. “I mean, it’s your fault I’m even in this state but what the fuck ever I’m too tired to actually get pissed off at you.”

Just when Gamzee was about to say something, the doorbell buzzed irritatingly loud and scratchy in Sollux’ ears and he groaned and pulled the sheets over his head. “Not meaning to sound like an asshole but do you actually have any other friends besides me?” the hacker asked scathingly.

“Of course I do, my brother. Friends are motherfucking miracles and gifts of the purple messiahs,” he replied, standing up to let in whoever was at the door in.

Sollux heard his footsteps leave the bedroom and fade away and he rolled onto his back and stared at the ceiling. He tried to breath through his nose, which was unfortunately fruitless, and coughed again. He reached for another ply of tissue to rub his nose with when a familiar voice caught his ear. He stopped mid-blow and strained his ears to make sure what he was hearing was real or just the voices in his head playing tricks on him again.

“So where is the big baby?” the voice asked playfully. He heard the door close and a few more footsteps started to resound in the apartment. Holy fuck, there were people in here looking for him when he was in a deplorable state? What the fuck, was Gamzee selling tickets to see the horrible freak show that is Sollux Captor with a runny nose? He already imagined a poster with a nose running away and him looking despondent in the background. It was all horribly embarrassing and he wished that he could erase that mental image from his brain. He should really start to be less paranoid, but he honestly couldn’t help it.

He sought shelter underneath the blankets and hid his face from the world and stayed perfectly still. Maybe if they didn't notice him, they’d leave and forget why they ever came. Yes, that was a brilliant plan. Of course it was, he made it after all and so he stayed there quietly to carry out his plans.

He heard familiar voices flood the room when the door was opened and they all seemed to be talking amiably with each other. Oh for shame if they find him.

The bed dipped at his side when a new weight presented itself. He felt a hand on his stomach, patting him gently and it was accompanied by a coaxing voice that belonged to none other than his best friend, Aradia Megido. “Sollux, hey, how are you feeling?” she asked in the quiet tone she always used whenever he was in one of his moods. 

Her voice alone was enough for him to disregard all his stupid thoughts of being sold to a freak show and he pulled the blanket away from his face to give her an unimpressed look. “Feel like shit. More so than what is normal,” he deadpanned.

“Pft, you’re such a big baby,” she teased, putting her hand on his forehead to check his temperature. “Oh dear, you’re hot!”

“I know I am AA but you’re already in a relationship so flirting is definitely something you shouldn’t be doing,” he said with a shit-eating grin, his mood lifting up a bit.

She smacked his head and subsequently pecked his cheek. “Stupid boy,” she said affectionately before turning her body slightly to reach for her bag. She pulled out a red and blue rectangle and put it into his hands. “Here, I brought your DS for you in case you got bored or something,” she said with a smile.

“Awww, hell to the fuck yes,” he said, turning it over in his hands to check what cartridge was in it (Legend of Zelda, fuck yes). Happy with what he was reunited with, he finally acknowledged the other people present in the room. There was Equius (of course he would be there) and then there was this shorter guy with brown skin and a funky looking Mohawk who was talking to Gamzee and finally a short girl who looked like she belonged in high school or something peering at him from behind Equius’ back.

Equius seemed to notice Sollux’ curious gaze and smiled apologetically. “Oh, yes, quite rude of me,” he started and moved slightly to the side to present the short girl to Sollux. “This is Nepeta, my cousin. She recently graduated from college and moved here,” he said and nudged the girl forward.

Nepeta smiled at him and sat on the bed next to Aradia and made grabby hands at his DS. He shrugged and let her borrow it and she inspected the game and nodded approvingly. “We should play together sometime,” she tells him as she hands him back his DS. “I’m Nepeta and it’s nice to meet you Mr. Pawlux.”

“…?” Sollux replied, confused.

“She has the tendency to make puns related to felines,” Equius explained but that still didn’t explain much but Sollux wasn’t really one to judge since he had a particular obsession with bifurcations.

“What name do you have for AA?” he asked.

“Purradia!” she told him happily. She pointed to Equius and said “Equihiss,” then to Gamzee “Pawzee,” then to the stranger he didn’t know “Tafuros!”

Something clicked in his head then he turned to look at Gamzee who was grinning at him like it was Christmas. “Pawzee,” he said with questioning eyes, “did you hijack my phone while I was passed out and talked to my friends without telling me?”

“Yes, Pawlux,” he replied and nodded, dragging the other boy with him. “Also this is Tavbro. He all up was the one who went and showed me how to dance to appease the rain spirits,” he explained.

“Uh, my name is actually Tavros and not Tavbro or Tafuros but I guess, like, if you really wanted to, you could call me that,” Tavros explained with faltering words that slightly irritated Sollux.

“So you’re the reason he dragged me out to play in the rain,” Sollux said accusingly.

Tavros grinned at him sheepishly. “I suppose that is kind of, well, true but he was asking me to uhhh tell him how to do it so I did and I didn’t know that he’d get other people involved and I should have, I guess, taken into consideration that other people might be involved with his uhhh ideas,” he scratched the back of his head awkwardly, the sheepish grin never leaving his face. “I guess, sorry??”

Sollux waved him off. “I’m not really blaming you.”

“Oh.”

“Anyway!!!” Aradia said, interrupting all further conversations. “We came here with all your stuff because you said that you were gonna move in with Gamzee, right??” She said smiling at him and he nodded dumbly in reply.

“By all my stuff, do you mean ALL my stuff?” Sollux asked, slightly worried.  
Aradia flicked his nose. “Don’t look so scared, Sollux. We didn’t touch any of your computer stuff because I know you get all cranky whenever someone does.”

“Thanks AA,” he replied with a sheepish grin that was kind of similar to Tavros’.

“Now we all up and have to get off our butts and into the kitchen because I all and whipped us up some grub before we all and get things moving from down there to up here,” Gamzee said, catching everyone’s attention. He moved to the other side of the bed and took Sollux’ glasses from the bedside table and put it on his face before helping him sit upright more. He coaxed Sollux out of bed and helped him to his feet, even when Sollux complained with colorful language.

Eventually, they were all at the table and eating Gamzee’s food, talking about this and that and what they should move in first. Sollux was feeling his energy return to him, if only for the fact that he was going to have an aneurism if someone messed his shit up. Maybe if he had more energy, he’d go back to his place and retrieve his computer stuff. Maybe he could get Equius to help. Out of all the people he would entrust his hardware to, it would be Equius if only for the fact that he knew at least how to be carful with technology.

“AA, thanks for not inviting KK to this moving-my-shit-into-some-guys apartment-party,” he said with a smile as he covered a pancake in honey. “He’d mess up my computers just because he thinks he knows what he’s doing when he actually doesn’t.” He shuddered at the though of KK getting his grubby uneducated paws on his babies and hoped that that would never have to happen.

“I thought you were rather fond of Mr. Vantas,” Equius asked with a raised eyebrow, putting down a glass of milk that was in his hands (not noticing right away that Nepeta was sneaking cut up pieces of pancake in it).

“Oh yeah, totally,” Sollux nodded, deliberately placing the jar of honey within Nepeta’s perimeter who silently thanked him with a mischievous smile. “KK’s a great guy but he’s absolutely shit with computers,” he explained and stopped himself from snorting when a spoonful of honey was added to the milk-pancake concoction.

Aradia noticed Nepeta’s actions and pushed the chocolate syrup towards the short girl. She took this and added it to the glass that was beginning to turn brown because of the syrup. She stirred it, careful not to catch Equius’ attention while Sollux carried on conversation with him.

In the end, when Equius absentmindedly took a swig of his milk, Sollux couldn’t hold back a laugh when he saw the ultimately confused look on his friend’s face. Nepeta laughed heartily alongside Aradia, who then immediately apologized and kissed Equius’ cheek. It was enough to sate him of the sermon he was about to give Nepeta. He gave her a warning glance and went back to finishing his food, as did everyone else.

When everyone was done, they left the plates in the sink and Gamzee carried Sollux like he weighed nothing and helped him down the stairs, much to Sollux’ horror. He was glad that the apartment building they were at was devoid of any other patrons at the moment so he didn’t have to suffer the embarrassment of being carried around like a kid.

There was not much of Sollux’ stuff (He didn’t have much to begin with anyway) and they started to move his stuff from Equius’s pick-up truck to Gamzee’s place. It took a considerable amount of time but finally, they got everything to fit neatly into the Gamzee’s apartment.

Sollux’ old mattress now sat in one of the corners (they decided that the puppies could now claim it as their own as long as they shared) and a duffle bag filled with Sollux’ clothes lay haphazardly in a pile of Gamzee’s clothes in a closet. The room looked more cluttered than it originally was but that was okay since neither Sollux nor Gamzee could care about it. 

Unfortunately, he didn’t get better soon enough because his computers were still at his previous home. He had insisted that they go get it but Gamzee and Aradia had forced him into bed and tucked him in so tight that it was almost impossible to escape. He gave up after a few minutes of futile struggling, he gave up and lay inactive on the bed, huffing unhappily as Gamzee patted his cheek.

When all was done and accounted for, Aradia and the gang (which he will forever call them) left with goodbyes and promises of him feeling better soon.

He wished soon was sooner.

When the apartment went quiet again, Gamzee sat on the edge of the bed and grinned at his patient. “That was fun,” he said, nodding. “They’re all up and welcome in this household whenever the fucking feel like dropping by, ya?” he told him. He gave Sollux another pill.

Sollux swallowed it and sighed, nodding. “Yeah, it was fun,” he agreed and scanned the room for the puppies. “Where’s Caesar and Francis?” he asked, realizing that he didn’t notice their presence while they were with the guests.

“Oh, yeah,” Gamzee said, walking to the bathroom to open the door and let the puppies out. “Your chicka friend said that they might all up be noisy and so we put them there with their snackies and toys to play with,” he explained. He walked to Sollux’ old mattress and sat down on it, whistling for the puppies to come over. They did and jumped onto the mattress as well, tails wagging and tongues hanging out happily and excitedly. “This is your bed now, pupsters,” he told them.

They didn’t really understand what he was saying but it seemed like they new that the mattress was theirs now and so they rolled around, leaving their scent on it. Gamzee stood up and walked back to where Sollux was. “You all up and wanting to get some dinner?” he asked softly, which for some reason Sollux liked. Probably because it was soothing and not his usual loud voice and not grating at his ears like it usually was.

“I’m tired and stuffed and I think I just really want to go to sleep right now,” he replied, taking off his glasses and scooting to the side to make room for Gamzee. He felt the other slither under the sheets and join him and he felt arms wrap around his waist and pull him into a hug. It was warm and nice and really soothing in contrast to the cool weather they’ve been having for the past few weeks and he felt at ease. He snuggled and buried his nose in the crook of Gamzee’s neck and sighed.

They slept well and all throughout the night.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> harhahrhahrhahrhar. I'm afraid that the next chapter might upset other people, but it's going to be featuring my favorite character haha


	5. Chapter 5

Though they did get a good nights sleep and Sollux’ sickness finally left his body, that didn’t meant that it left the house. No, of course it didn’t. So it was the next morning that Sollux woke up bright and early and feeling better than he had in a while. He yawned and stretched, his spine cracking in that disturbingly loud way that he was so used to and grinned. Wow, when was the last time he felt like this?

He turned to look at Gamzee who looked his usual self, besides the fact that his hair seemed to be more mussed up than it usually was, his face paints smeared all over the bed sheets (and he realized belatedly that some of the face paint got on his hair and shirt too). The little cogs in his brain began to move as he rested the back of his hand against Gamzee’s forehead and he cursed, realizing that Gamzee had caught his flu.

He didn’t bother to wake Gamzee up and hoped that there was still some of that left over Hello Soup because he sure as hell didn’t know how to cook. He rushed to the kitchen as quietly as he could so that he wouldn’t wake up Gamzee. The puppies however, were light sleepers and woke up and padded their tiny paws after him, tails wagging and hoping for some breakfast.

Sollux opened the fridge and crouched down, staring at the contents. There were several pots and plastic containers and he had to go through the horrors of opening and checking and smelling if they were still edible. The puppies gazed into the fridge too on either side of him, sniffing around. Sollux would sometimes put a dish close enough for them to sniff and if they turned their noses on it he was pretty sure that the stuff was better off down the toilet.

Finally, he found the Hello Soup and transferred it into a clean bowl and set it in the microwave for 2:22 minutes and decided that the fridge had to be cleaned out. He gave the puppies some kibble and milk first before disposing the rotting food and keeping the ones that could still be eaten. By the end of ten minutes, the fridge was almost barren of its contents and he was pretty sure if the trashcan was alive, it’d be happy because it was full.

He then remembered that the soup was in the microwave and cursed quietly and reheated it and waited again. He washed the dishes, they were piling up and he felt the urge to clean it up. After another ten minutes, the dishes were clean and put away and he cursed again because he forgot about the soup. He nuked it a third time and waited for it to finally beep.

He put the dish on one of Gamzee’s trays (why did Gamzee have trays anyway?) and brought it to the bedroom. Gamzee was still sleeping so he put the soup on the bedside table and sat on the edge of the bed, shaking Gamzee awake as gently as he could. “Hey, Gamz, wake up buddy,” he said softly.

“Bitch-tit, motherfucker,” he slurred back, turning slightly to set his eyes on Sollux. “Bright,” he stated simply and closed his eyes again and pulled the sheets over his face.

Sollux chuckled a bit and stood up, walked to the window and drew the curtains. He went back to Gamzee and pulled the blankets off his face and offered a grin. “C’mon, you have to get some food in you,” he said coaxingly, helping Gamzee into a sitting position. The taller of the two slumped against the headboard and closed his eyes. “Here, soup,” Sollux said and placed the tray on his lap and gave Gamzee the spoon. “Can you feed yourself?”

Gamzee nodded slowly and dipped his spoon in the bowl and began to eat slowly.

The puppies were done with their food and yipped and barked happily by the bedside. Sollux shooshed them and said “follow me” (which they did, surprisingly enough) and walked into the bathroom. He took a basin from underneath the sink cabinet and filled it halfway with warm water. He opened the mirror/medicine cabinet and found a bottle of rubbing alcohol and poured a generous amount into the water before replacing the bottle in its rightful spot.

He carried the basin back into the bedroom and set it on the bedside table, Gamzee was only one-fourths done with his soup, and went to the closet to look for a washcloth.

The puppies sniffed around the basin, curious as to what it was and circled it.

Sollux couldn’t help but smile at their cute-ness and chuckled again. He dunked the washcloth into the basin (he wasn’t surprised that the one he found was Winnie the Pooh design) and turned his attention back to Gamzee. “Are you done with your soup?”

Gamzee nodded slowly and Sollux took the bowl away from him and set it down on the floor. The puppies then ate the left over soup, which was fine since there won’t be rotting soup in the fridge. He picked up the cloth and wrung it until it was damp and wiped Gamzee’s face, clearing it of the face paint. It was then that he realized that he’s never seen Gamzee without it and he got an odd bubbly feeling in his chest, thinking that he was the only person to ever see Gamzee’s face, all natural.

“Take off your shirt,” he instructed and he dunked the cloth into the basin again and wrung it. Gamzee made no move to do so and he sighed. He hung the cloth on the side of the basin and did it himself, tossing the shirt where ever and began to wipe Gamzee’s chest, arms and back.

Gamzee inched back under the sheets and smiled at Sollux gratefully. “Thanks bro,” he told him.

“No problem. An eye for an eye, I guess,” he replied and left the washcloth to float in the basin. “Do you want anything? Like food request or whatever? I don’t understand how cooking works so unless you want an exploded kitchen, I’m just going to order take-out or something.” He walked around the room to gather his things, jacket, shoes and keys. Maybe he should give the pups a walk while he’s at it. Then again, if the puppies stayed, Gamzee would at least have company.

He decided that the puppies should stay. He picked them up and put them on the bed and they played happily at Gamzee’s feet. He pushed a few books and clothes onto the side of the bed as a makeshift staircase so the puppies could get down if they needed to handle their business.

“I’d like a chicken pot pie or someshit, bro,” Gamzee replied sleepily, wiggling his feet so they peeked out of the end of the blanket and smiled when he felt the puppies pawing at his feet. “And maybe a bottle of faygo if that’s all up and okay, Mr. doctor Sol bro.”

Sollux nodded. “Yeah, I guess carbonated drinks are fine. Okay, I’m gonna go out now. Should I lock the door?”

“Naw,” Gamzee called. “Leave it opened, man. Everyone is all up and invited into this humble abode of fun and friendship and miracles because—“

“No, okay. Shut up. I get it. I won’t lock the door. No need for you to go to a lengthy explanation. You’re already sick and you need to shut up and get rest, alright?” he said, already making his way out of the bedroom.

“Right on, brother.”

Sollux closed the door and made his way down the building and into the busy bright streets of the city. Though the sun was high in the sky, it was blocked by a lot of clouds, so it wasn’t particularly hot. In fact, it was pretty breezy and he shoved his hands deep into his pockets. Where the fuck was he going to get a chicken pot pie?

He finds a place eventually that sells chicken potpie and to his surprise, he finds that Mohawk-haired kid that was at their apartment yesterday. He’s behind the counter and taking orders and when it’s finally Sollux’ turn to order he smiles a little more friendly as compared to the other smiles he’s given the other customers. “H-hey, Sollux!” He greeted happily. “What can I, uh, get for you?”

“Uh, Tafurros, right?” Sollux asked, not quite remembering his name.

A girl laughed from the kitchen and popped her head out of the small counter that separates the kitchen from the cash registers. “Tafurros?! Hah! That’s a new one, Pupa!!!” She cackled from behind and Tafurros blushed ever so slightly. She offered Sollux a smile and waggles her eyebrows. “Hey skinny. Didn’t know Tav had friends that made fun of him too.”

“I wasn’t making fun of him,” Sollux replied a little hastily. “I just genuinely for got his real name, sorry about that man, and remembered the stupid nickname that NP gave him,” he explained. “Also I want a chicken potpie and a double patty burger with extra pickles and mustard but hold the onions.” He takes his wallet out of his back pocket as Tavros rings him up. “Oh, and a grape Faygo too” he added as an afterthought.

“Uh, Vriska, he wants a---“

“Don’t waste your breath, Pupa, I’ve got it,” she interrupted him, waving her hand dismissively as she retreated back into the kitchen to make his order. Sollux hoped that she wasn't the type of person to spit into drinks and burgers because that would be really gross and unappetizing.

Sollux took out his money and placed the payment into Tafurros’ waiting hand. “Is that girl always a bitch or is she always a bitch?” He asked, stuffing the change back into his wallet and replacing his wallet back into his back pocket.

“That’s Vriska,” he replied, handing Sollux his receipt with a sheepish grin. “She’s uh, always like that and I don’t think she means any real harm but she really likes to tease a lot and, uhh, sometimes it goes a little overboard.”

“No, I know who Vriska is,” Sollux groaned. “She’s Aradia’s neighbor and she’s a huge bitch and causes the landlord a shitton of trouble. It’s really unfortunate that you have to work with her and I feel really sorry for you Taffuros.”

“It’s Tavros,” he corrected him. “And it’s not so bad sometimes.”

“HEY PUPA!! ORDER UP!” Vriska shouted to catch his attention, ringing a bell (Sollux counted eight dings) and goes back to the kitchen to handle whatever it was that people did behind the counter. There is a bag with Sollux’s orders in it sitting on the counter and Tavros takes it and gives it to him. 

“Thanks, Tavros,” Sollux nodded, taking the bag from him.

“No problem,” he replied and waved goodbye. “Say hi to Gamzee for me.”

“Yeah, sure,” Sollux waved back. “Don’t let the bitch get to you,” he added, giving Vriska the finger when her head popped back out of the kitchen again to bid him farewell.

She is such a bitch. Why the fuck was she working at a fastfood restaurant anyways? Wasn’t she loaded?

Well, that didn’t matter.

As he was walking back to the apartment, he noticed a familiar face. It was Terezi and she was crouching down in front of a kitten and petting it. He approached her, thinking he should say hi and tell her the puppies are doing fine.

“Hey Mr. Appleberryblast,” she greeted without even turning her head. “What brings you here?”

“Fastfood,” Sollux replied and crouched down next to her. “Is it your day off?”

“Yes, yes it is!” she eventually picked the kitten up and smiled as she stood up. “I was on my way to meet my friend Karkles but then Snowcookie showed up and I just had to pet her!” She explained to him, cradling the kitten in one arm, her free hand holding onto her walking stick. “So I’m taking her to him since Karkles has a friend who really likes kitties!”

“Snowcookie?” Sollux asked with a questioning look.

“She’s white and has black spots like a chocolate chip cookie,” Terezi explained.

“… Well, that’s actually pretty creative,” he responded, pushing his glasses up the bridge of his nose. “Anyway, where does this Karkles live anyway? Do you want me to help you get there?”

“Don’t be silly, I can get there on my own,” she answered, waving her cane around and Sollux had to duck to doge it. “It’s around a block away from here. Besides, if I get lost, Karkles can be my knight in shining armor and save me, ehehehehehe.” She grinned and waved goodbye.

He waved goodbye and left as well to be Gamzee’s knight in shining armor.

Wow, he did not just think that, wow that was really stupid of him. He wished he never thought that HOLY FUCK THAT WAS STUPID.

When he finally came back to the apartment, the puppies greeted him at the door and he slipped out of his shoes and stripped himself of his jacket. “I’m back,” he called and walked into the bedroom where Gamzee was busying himself with his laptop. Relief washed over Sollux for some reason, probably because he was glad to see that Gamzee didn’t look too sickly anymore. He put the order on the bed and Gamzee turned his attention to Sollux with a grin.

“I all up and got bored,” he explained and turned his laptop to show Sollux what he was doing. “So I all up and made myself a shelter and shit.” He smiled proudly as Sollux stared at the screen.

Gamzee was playing minecraft while he was gone.

Gamzee was playing minecraft while he was gone.

For some inexplicable reason, that was really cute to him.

The house was made of wool in all shades that minecraft had to offer and it looked absolutely ridiculous but that didn’t really matter. At least Gamzee had found a way to distract himself. He set the laptop aside as Gamzee opened the paper bag that had a drawing of a weird alien-ish like thing on the side. He didn’t notice that at first and he stared at it. It had horns like a bull.

“That’s Tavbro,” Gamzee explained before taking a bite. “He all up and used to FLARP with me and some other people and it was all up and fun and we was like aliens and shit,” he wiped his lips and picked up the bottle of Faygo and cracked it open and took a swig.

“FLARP? No fucking way,” Sollux asked, astonished and amused, taking out his burger and began to unwrap it. “Like, me and AA used to FLARP when we were in high school, Jesus,” he laughed, taking a bite of his burger, chewing thoughtfully. “And then Vriska used some sort of hack and murdered AA using my character, what a bitch.”

“Shooooosh,” Gamzee cooed, patting Sollux’ face with oily and saucy hands. “You don't all up and gotta dampen this eating time with bad memories, my brother. Just gotta remember the good times because those times are the times that matter the most and shit,” he smiled and offered some of his chicken potpie to Sollux.

Sollux shrugged and took a bite. “It tastes like shit.”

Gamzee just laughed and took another bite. “More for me, bro. More for me.”

Sollux scoffed and grabbed a tissue, wiping the oil away from his lips. “Anyways,” he started as Gamzee took another bite of his food, “Are you feeling any better now? No headaches or annoying body temperature?” He placed a hand over the other’s forehead and thankfully, he was near to having normal body temperature, only just slightly warm. 

“Yeah, my brother. Totally fine. No achies in my noggin or anything.” He was half way through his pie, his mouth all messy and it’s like he wasn’t even trying to eat anymore. It was like he was just making an effort to get himself dirty or something. At least that’s what Sollux though. “Quality time with the little bundles of barking joy just did miracles to me its like, I dunno man, it feels like nothing bad can all up and ruin this day of days.”

“Yeah, nothing but the sniffles and a fever,” Sollux replied. He gathered up the rest of the napkins that had come with the order and pulled Gamzee closer by his shoulders. “You eat like a fucking pig, are you doing this to piss me off or are you genuinely that incapable of eating properly?” he asked as he began to wipe away at the mess that was Gamzee’s face. There was no venom at all in his tone, just a fond little comment to Gamzee’s endearing personality and quirks.

“Aww shit,” Gamzee laughed, grabbing Sollux’s wrist gently to pull the other’s hand away. “Didn’t all up and mean to make a mess man, it all just sorta happened all too fast. This grub that you’ve provided me with is all up and motherfucking delicious and I all and can’t help but devour the blessings in eatable form as fucking fast as Speedy Gonzales or some shit,” he rambled, creating an even bigger mess as his hand gestures spilled some of his food onto the sheets.

“Stop moving your hands,” Sollux sighed, pulling his wrist free to clean the mess. “I’m starting to feel like an underpaid caretaker,” he said with a roll of his eyes and he stood up to get a washcloth or something to clean the mess again. When he came back with an old shirt he started picking up the pieces of the food that had fallen and scrubbing the stains that they left behind. “I think its about time you’ve given me a raise or something, because this is not fair and I demand a raise since I’m such a meticulous and hardworking caretaker of yours,” he said jokingly.

“Aww shit man, of course I’ll all up and pay you,” Gamzee responded with a piddling grin.

“Oh really?” Sollux mused with an amused sigh. “How exactly are you supposed to be paying me, huh?” he put his materials aside and made himself comfortable next to the tall and gangly man. “Now that I think about it, what do you even do for a living? I don’t think I’ve seen you lift a finger, aside from taking care of the pups and all.” He pushed his glasses away from his face so that they sat atop of his head and rubbed his eyes. “Please don’t tell me you’re selling drugs illegally.”

Gamzee looked at him with slight confusion before barking out a laugh. “Aw, no man, I all an ain’t up to no illegal shindigs to be getting myself a lil’ green, you dig?” He wiped his hands messily on his pants, still with the lazy grin on his face.

“To be honest, I don’t know if I trust you about that or not but, you know, I wont judge. I’d be totally cool with it. Yep. Totally cool, so long as you don’t get me involved with anything then I wont complain or even rat you out.” Sollux laughed again, leaning against the back of the bed and closed his eyes as he rubbed his face groggily with his hand. “Man, I think I’m more tired than I originally thought I was.”

“Then all up and lay your pretty little head down next to mine and we can think up dream bubbles and happy things,” Gamzee said in his same lazy sounding tone. Sollux has come to realizes that he will never completely understand what the fuck Gamzee is saying but in a way he sort of kind of does? In a weird sort of way. Its confusing. Being with a confusing man is making him confused as well. Will he one day end up talking in riddles? Who knows. Maybe it’s not that bad. He can already imagine the number of people he’d piss off with that, and it makes him grin as he does decide to lay down with the juggalo. 

“Why the hell do you call them dream bubbles? Don’t you mean dream clouds or what the fuck ever?” Sollux asked with his brows furrowed slightly. “Or is that a thing I will never understand?”

“Aw man, no, like, all look up at it in this way: clouds are like, for fucking ever right?” No, not exactly, Sollux thought but what the hell ever. “Well, dreams are all up and forever as well but these dreams I’m all up the ones that are there when we go to sleep.” Using his hands, Gamzee started to draw a circle above their heads and held the invisible shape as if it was really there with careful arms. “These are all up and precious, and like, if someone wakes you up,” he poked the invisible shape, “it will pop and it’ll be gone forever.” He sighed and rested his folded hands on his stomach. “The only thing that will be left is the remembrance that it was there. But, you know, not a lot of people all up and appreciate the beauty of it all.”

Wow. That was pretty deep. “Did you come up with that on the spot or do you really think that way?” Sollux asked, turning on his side to face the other man beside him. “Because I have to admit that that is an interesting way to look at it.” He sniffed and rubbed his nose, folding his arms over his chest. “What do you think about life?” he asked in sheer curiosity, and Gamzee’s stupid high-as-a-kite voice makes him sleepy, almost like a lullaby. Maybe it was the tone of his voice, it was deep and slow and that put him at ease.

Sollux will hate to admit it to himself, but the presence of the weirdo man he met in the rain is highly comforting to him. He’s realized that it’s been a while since he’s experienced a break from his chronic headaches and it all started when he met Gamzee. Maybe it really was a gift from gods or whatever. Maybe he’s been blessed for not flipping the fuck out on Gamzee when, on any other occasion, he would have.

**Author's Note:**

> uh, this is embarrassing. I thought I uploaded the 3rd chapter ages ago....


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